Archive of ‘Fitness’ category

Yesterday, for the third year in a row, my boyfriend and I ran the Marin Memorial Day 10K. This run is very significant to me. It marks a milestone when, two years ago, I started doing something about my health and weight. I’d gained more than 30 pounds since college. I was unhappy with myself. […] Read more…

Today I started a fresh workout regime. I’ll be doing INSANITY workouts and following a very healthy diet plan where I eat lots of good, healthy food, often (five-ish meals per day). I’ve done INSANITY before in two or three false starts, but this time I’m determined to go through the full two-month regimen without […] Read more…

I recently started reading a book, The Checklist Manifesto. It’s written by a surgeon who observed the use of routine checklists in medical procedure and found that the benefits of using simple lists of actions helped save lives and increase efficiency by incredible margins. It’s a fascinating book. I’ve always been obsessed with the idea […] Read more…

As part of my search for lunch recipes on Stone Soup, I alighted on this delicious-looking vegetable & white bean stew recipe. I love zucchini and tomatoes together, so the fact that this recipe included both sealed the deal. My mom used to cook sliced zucchini with onions and chopped tomatoes, and after you sprinkled […] Read more…

I am in the midst of doing Insanity right now. I did P90x last fall and loved it. Insanity seemed like the logical next step. Except for a short break to account for the craziness of SXSW last weekend, I’ve been working out six days a week for the past three weeks. The problem, though, […] Read more…

Over the past six months, I have really started getting into cooking and getting to know my kitchen. A few weeks ago, I discovered my boyfriend’s practically brand new, never-used Staub Dutch oven gathering dust in the recesses of a kitchen shelf, and I knew I had to break it in. I specifically thought that […] Read more…

I have been trying to cook at home more lately, with great success. Almost every night dinner is cooked by yours truly. However, I feel that I am relying too heavily on processed staples to get me through dinner prep instead of making them myself. Last night, a simple tomato sauce for spaghetti seemed a […] Read more…

I’ve been running at breakneck pace lately. Full days, crowded evening plans, and imperfect sleep cut short by late nights and made fitful by a recent attack of hungry bugs (I have a half-dozen or so nasty bites to prove it). Last night was the last straw. I needed to slow down. No, more than […] Read more…

As part of my quest to focus my free time devoted to exercise, I’ve been dedicating a lot of time to weight training. Based on my personal research on the subject, I believe that weight training is very important to my exercise routine for a number of reasons. I’ve noticed a HUGE difference in my […] Read more…

I have always had the problem of wanting to do too many things. And the fact that I love to start things and not finish them. This deadly combination has left me dabbling in a number of different areas and consistently flitting from activity to activity, never staying long enough to achieve my true potential […] Read more…